For President Jacob Zuma to be removed from office a simple majority‚ or 201 of the 400 MPs that would make up the full assembly‚ need to support the DA’s no confidence motion‚ Speaker Baleka Mbete confirmed in Parliament on Tuesday when questioned on the issue.

The ANC has 249 seats‚ so all opposition members and at least 50 ANC MPs would have had to vote in favour of the motion for Zuma to be ousted.

However‚ complicating matters for the opposition was the speaker’s insistence that the threshold remained 201‚ despite the fact that as many as five seats were vacant on the day.

She said Parliament would seek a legal opinion and should there be a need‚ the threshold would be adjusted accordingly. This means that‚ as it stands‚ opposition parties needed more MPs‚ as many as 56 from the ANC to break ranks‚ for the motion to succeed — but this may be retrospectively adjusted depending on the outcome of Constitutional experts’ input on the matter.